Success Stories

Success Story

Virtana Inc

Located in St. Augustine Trinidad, Virtana Inc. is an outsourcing company that delivers high quality robotics software solutions to international technology companies, utilizing engineering graduates based in Trinidad and Tobago.

INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Cocoa Processing Partner for an Offtake Agreement

The Cocoa and Coffee Marketing Cooperative (the Cooperative) in Trinidad and Tobago is seeking to expand their cocoa processing output capacity. In light of this, the Cooperative requires a partner for an offtake agreement to achieve this goal.

Investment Opportunity

Partner for Offtake Agreement

Fine/flavour Cocoa

Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) has been an exclusive cocoa-producing location for over 200 years and is one of the few countries in the world that produces a fine/flavour cocoa. Some of the world’s finest and best varieties of cocoa such as the Trinitario, Criollo and Forastero are indigenous to the islands.

Fine/flavour cocoa beans from T&T and other Caribbean islands command a premium price on the international market. Additionally, T&T has the advantage of being a leading centre for cocoa germplasm research. (Jacque & Neptune, 2007)

According to the International Cocoa Organization (ICO), fine/flavour cocoa accounts for five percent (5%) of the total cocoa production worldwide. This 5% was estimated at three hundred thousand (300,000) metric tons of cocoa.

Offtake Agreement

The Cocoa and Coffee Marketing Cooperative is the largest purchasing body for cocoa in the country with a market share of over 50% and produces approximately 200 metric tons of fine/flavour dried cocoa beans annually.

Currently, the beans are collected from over 250 farmers in East Trinidad and are fermented within 24 hours at a central fermentation center, where each batch of cocoa is dried separately to ensure region types are disaggregated to suit taste preferences.

The finished cocoa fetches US$6200 per metric ton on the international market. By the end of 2017, the cooperative aims to produce 60% natural gas and 40% sun dried beans. A partner is required in order to achieve this goal.